Sections of the Soapbox

Nov 25, 2012

This recipe from Bakergirl's website Bakergirl's Gingerdoodles (or Snickersnaps)is too good not to share. I bake a lot (haven't been posting, but I've been baking). It's seriously good. Smells delicious and warm while baking.

The only thing I did differently was that to make sure I portioned the dough correctly (since there are different amounts of each dough) is that I patted each dough into a rectangle and stacked them. Then I cut slices (as you would a loaf of bread) and then cut each slice into three pieces. I rolled each piece into a ball and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture (I didn't roll the doughs separately. I rolled them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture after rolling the two doughs together).

Cream
together shortening and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well, until
creamy. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar and mix until
combined. Dough will be a little of crumbly, but it'll come together
when you roll it into balls.

Combine cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl and set aside for rolling dough in. (I used this mixture for both doughs)

Gingersnap Dough

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon ginger

1/4 cup granulated sugar for rolling cookies in (see note above about using the cinnamon sugar for both doughs)

Cream
together shortening and sugar. Add molasses and egg and continue
beating. Add flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger and
mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

The original recipe called for rolling
a small amount of gingersnap dough into a ball and toss in granulated
sugar and a small amount of snickerdoodle dough in a ball and toss in
cinnamon-sugar. The next step was to place both doughs together and gently roll or squeeze together,

Since there was more Gingersnap dough (ie it uses 2 cups of flour to the 1 1/2 cup for the Snickerdoodle dough). I shaped both doughs into a rectangle and stacked them. I don't know the exact size...but they were equal in area. The gingersnap dough was thicker. I cut the "loaf" into slices and then each slice into three pieces. I rolled each piece into a ball and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Then I baked them off! YUM!

Place
on baking sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove from oven and allow
to cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes before moving to cooling racks.

Sep 23, 2012

I seem to be so stop and go with blogging. It's been six months since I've written anything. I always seem to come back to the blog when I go through especially bad bouts of insomnia. This stretch has been particularly bad.

It started on August 11th. I was in a car accident. I had been home from the beach less than 24 hours. I was supposed to go see Abba at Wolftrap on August 12th. I stopped at Fresh Market to get some food for the picnic-ing part of the concert. I was at a full stop at a red light. I had been fully stopped for about 5-7 seconds when a car plowed into me. The driver didn't try to stop or slow down. I know it could have been much worse, but it's still been a hassle and it's left me shaken. My car, though it didn't necessarily look all that bad, was totaled. So, I had to get a new car 6 months after I finished paying off the old car. Had I not paid the car off early over the last 5-6 months. I would have just made my last payment a few days before the accident. Again, it really could have been a lot worse, but it's still lousy.

Though I haven't posted any baking entries, I have been baking up a storm lately. My latest and greatest find has been a recipe for a Cornbread Loaf, a la Le Bus (a restaurant that was near Penn while I was a student). Maybe one day soon I'll have time to post the recipet (but, I didn't take any pictures.) I guess that I will have to make it again soon and take pictures.

Anyway, this post is neither here nor there with anything of substance, but I know when I first starting blogging I slept well after writing.

Maybe I'll get back into this, but since I have been studying for the CEBS, I don't really have time to blog.

Mar 10, 2012

OK, so I made up the name for this snack while I was typing the title. I've seen a lot of Pins on Pinterest for this snack that I remember making in my first grade class (which was about 37 years ago). I looked at the basic proportions from other recipes and then went from there. I used the name "Bandwagon" because I was going to start out this entry by saying "I'm jumping on the bandwagon", but then I just decided to use that in the name of the post (yes, I live an exciting life). And, there are 3 ingredients and 3 steps to make these (well, maybe four steps.)